Edges of Light

The exhibition “Edges of Light”, on view at Arts Benicia from October 2nd through November 6th, features a diverse range of artists brought together to examine the existence of photography outside the usual expectations of the medium. Co-curators Mark Eanes, associate professor at California College of the Arts (CCA), and Chris Nickel, director of CCA’s photo lab, have structured an exhibition that exposes the viewer to works of art that challenge existing ideas of what a photograph is, what it looks like, and what techniques and materials are possible in its creation. The exhibition features artists Stephen Berkman, Brice Bischoff, Matthew Brandt, Natalie Cheung, John Chiara, Binh Danh, Rachel Heath, Jason Kalogiros, Chris McCaw, Eric Mertens, Christine Nguyen, Maggie Preston, and John Roloff.

In the works on view in “Edges of Light”, there are a number of distinct approaches taken by the artists, both in the materials and processes utilized, but also in the conceptual connection to photography as a whole. The images that bear the most resemblance to traditional photography are those using antique processes. In the Daguerreotypes made by Binh Danh and Eric Mertens, viewers come face to face with modern iterations of the first-ever viable photographic process. Stephen Berkman and Rachel Heath, on the other hand, create images using a wet plate collodion process that produces a uniquely distorted and specifically nineteenth century appearance. In another approach, Chris McCaw and John Chiara both use cameras and traditional photographic materials to create images, but again, the product of their efforts are unlike any typical photograph. In both cases, the object on the wall is an actual one of a kind sheet of paper used to capture the image.

The nature of the process itself is what distinguishes this exhibition of photography. Although the work at Arts Benicia represents a broad range of expression stylistically and conceptually, this group of artist is united by the significance of process, and in most cases, chance and mystery, these images are not the products of a quick snap of the shutter. In fact, many of the images are made without a camera. Instead, the photographs are carefully crafted, and in certain cases, take hours to create and develop. “Edges of Light” is the culmination of the risks these have artists have taken and the boundaries they have broken.